How to Change Your Ohio Business Name

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How to Get a New Business Name in Ohio

Choose a new business name
Gather information for filing your amendment
File your Ohio amendment

As a business owner, you’re probably always looking for ways to keep your business fresh and recognizable. If so, you may want to consider a business name change in Ohio. And if you’re wondering how to change a business name in Ohio, we can help. In addition to choosing a new name, an update like this to your LLC or corporate typically requires filing a Certificate of Amendment. We can help with this vital step in the process with our Amendment Filing Service.

In this post, we’ll help you learn how to change a business name in Ohio and provide some tricks and tips on updating your image and organizing your documents effectively. Our goal is to help make corporate compliance easy at all stages throughout the life of your business.

How to Get a New Business Name

Executing a business name change requires planning. We detail the steps to change your Ohio business’s name below.

1.) Choose a new business name

Business owners sometimes find choosing a new business name the most challenging part of a business name change in Ohio. Be creative, but don’t let this be a stressful process! Many entrepreneurs choose a name that reflects their mission, products, or the name of the town where they do business.

Ohio has a few rules about how your business can be named. In general, your business’s new name needs to:

Be distinguishable from names already actively in use by other businesses
Not use punctuation, articles, or words like Company or Inc. to distinguish the name from another business
Not use words offensive to accepted standards of decency
Not contain names or abbreviations implying that the business is affiliated with a governmental entity

These rules are fairly straightforward. However, confirming that your business’s new name is unique from others can be more difficult. We simplify part of the process for you with our Business Name Checker. Once you’ve confirmed that your name is unique and conforms to the rules, you’re ready to move on to the next step to change your business name in Ohio.

2.) Gather information for filing your amendment

Once you’re ready to change your name, you’ll need to file a Certificate of Amendment to update your Ohio LLC or Corporate Formation documents. To complete a business name change in Ohio, usually, the Ohio Secretary of State will need to know:

The business’s exact current name
The business’s Ohio registration number
The business’s proposed new name, including LLC, Ltd., or other information identifying its business structure
The purpose of the amendment
The date the name change should be effective (if not the date of filing)
The signature of an appropriate party

Our comprehensive suite of business services also offers Ohio companies ways to make amendments easier.

3.) File your Ohio amendment

Once you’ve chosen a new name, figured out how to change a business name in Ohio, and completed your paperwork, you can access a variety of filing services online through the Secretary of State’s online portal. Here, you can make appointments for in-person filing, find forms to download and complete for mail-in filing, and access the portal for online submissions. We can also do this for you with our Amendment Filing Service.

After You Change Your Business Name

Making a business name change in Ohio is only step one in freshening up your business image. After the paperwork has been filed, you’ll have to think about the practical issues that come with a name change. These include:

Updating your business name on all of your contracts, agreements, and accounts
Changing the company’s name on any employment contracts or independent contractor agreements
Reviewing and updating marketing materials like business cards, stationery, website materials, logos, and more
Ordering new t-shirts, uniforms, pens, stickers, and other giveaways to help clients remember your new business name

Make sure to budget time and money to handle these updates so you can coordinate them with the approval of your name change.

We can help

Our goal is to help make business name changes and ongoing compliance simple. We can quickly help make changes to your business with our Amendment Filing Service. And if you’re an early-stage entrepreneur who has yet to form a business entity or is making a full-scale business change, our Ohio LLC and Ohio Corporation Formation Services can get you up and running fast.

We can also help you keep your business legally compliant with our Worry-Free Compliance Service, which includes up to two amendment filings per year.

Disclaimer: The content on this page is for informational purposes only, and does not constitute legal, tax, or accounting advice. If you have specific questions about any of these topics, seek the counsel of a licensed professional.

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FAQs

What's the difference between a doing-business-as (DBA) name and business name?
Your legal business name is the original name your business used on its formation documents when you registered with the State of Ohio. A DBA, trade name, or fictitious business name, is a name your business uses that is anything other than its legal name. In Ohio, a trade name requires registration. A fictitious name doesn’t have to be unique, and a business can use several at once.
Do I have to change my business name if I have a DBA name?
No, you don’t have to change your business name if you have a DBA name. The specific purpose of an assumed business name is to keep the official business name while having other names to represent different business projects or branches of the company.
How do I register my business name in Ohio?
Before you register your business name in Ohio, you have to make sure that the name you want for your business is different from other names on record with the Secretary of State. You’ll also need to confirm that it conforms to the Secretary of State’s other naming rules.
How many amendments can I make to my business?
You can make as many amendments as you want as long as they’re appropriately adopted, filed, and paid for. You can even make multiple amendments in the same business amendment document.

Ohio Business Resources

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